Hi everyone, I'm Emily and I'm Vince and this
is the lighthouse lowdown Let's go We haven't
been here for a while back in the saddle this
episode posts in two days. So that's incredible
I know I gotta do some editing before then Yeah,
I think I'm behind on YouTube Our listeners may
have noticed a batch upload They may notice a
future batch upload. Yeah, just so everyone knows,
here's our announcement, is that we're taking
off for the season. And we said we weren't going
to do that, but wedding planning is a lot more
than anticipated. And so something has to be
sacrificed. Fortunately, that's the podcast.
My solo Edmund Fitzgerald episode. Yeah. Talked
about, I gave a brief. That was the day of your
bridal shower. Yeah. We're living in our in -laws
basement. Thank you. We are planning our wedding,
which is happening very soon. And 14 days. 14
days. That's crazy. We have a honeymoon and work
is busier than ever. And we're also buying a
house. So I joke, you know, these are all like.
These are like the best things. Yeah. This is
a time to look back on and be really happy. It's
just a lot. Oh my gosh. I can't believe we did
all that. Like in the moment it's like, ah, it's
all good stuff, but it's a lot. So we are not
going to stop the lighthouse slowdown. No, of
course not. But we're going to take a break.
Like, yeah. Until at least a couple episodes.
Yeah. But we'll see. We're gonna fill it out.
We'll be back, but we are going to take the time
necessary. And I know I said we weren't going
to do that, but. We cracked under the pressure.
Hopefully we come back really strong. I have
an episode, actually I have a couple that I've
been researching over the past couple months.
I just haven't finished them to the point where
they're worth presenting. Fine tuning. Just for
our listeners. They can blame me for this. This
next one was supposed to be mine. I'm prepared.
This was supposed to be episode... 93 and it's
92 now and um it's a christmas central episode
because originally this one would have posted
on december 22nd but now it's posting december
8th which is fine still christmasy and um so
we'll be coming back with our green island series
after this and your episode awesome so i chose
well you know how usually we do Christmas time
at lighthouses at Christmas time? Yeah. Like
every year? Uh -huh. Well, that's what I was
going to do this year. But then only a couple
of the lighthouses we've covered this whole year
do anything for Christmas time. Really? They
don't even do anything Christmassy. They don't
decorate or have little events or whatever. So
I couldn't even culminate a whole Christmas time
at lighthouses episode. There was only like two
lighthouses that did something. Mentionable for
Christmas. So we have to skip it. It's so sad.
Bless you. But I've decided that since we can't
make a full episode out of that, then I'll cover
a lighthouse that really decks the halls for
the holidays. Bows of Jolly? Exactly. Bows of
Holly. What did you say? I don't know. Okay.
Then we'll go back to our Green Island series
after that. So it's a little blip. And I also,
oh, also, and also, our giveaway is going to
be when we come back. We promised a giveaway,
and it was too much to do it right now. So we're
going to come back. I have a vendor for swag.
A giveaway is coming up. We have some, yeah,
it's happening. Yeah, it's happening. We did
promise a giveaway, and it is coming, just when
things are less crazy. All right. History buoy.
I promised I was going to talk about this, I
think, on the last episode. They've all kind
of blurred together. Keeper Class Coastal Buoy
Tenders is what we're talking about today. Keeper
Class? Yes. Coastal Buoy Tenders. Buoy Tenders,
yeah. Buoy Tenders are a type of boat, and Keeper
Class is their type, which is pretty exciting.
Keeper Class. It's a cool name. So this is a
class of Coast Guard ship named after influential
lighthouse keepers of the past. So they released
them all. Can you go to our first photo, please?
And slide. Slide. And slide. Yes. So here's a
picture. They all look the same. They just have
different numbers. And they're all each named
after a different lighthouse keeper. So these
were all commissioned and completed between 1995
and 2000. And there are 14 of them in service.
So I didn't know anything about this. It talks
about like. the propellers and the rudders and
the drive propulsion system. Yeah. You don't,
do you know anything? Z drive? Nope. Okay. Well,
I'm thinking about it for sure. I was like, Oh,
I love it. And then it was just like, I don't
know. I mean, it's a boat and we don't talk boats.
I'm guessing it's the orientation of the drive
shafts. Um, in some like road vehicles, they
have a shaft that switches between, well, historically,
between two -wheel and four -wheel drive to where
you'd be driving just the rear wheels and then
also the front wheels. I'm guessing they have
propellers and the motor are oriented similar.
But I'm unsure. I have a picture. Actually, yeah.
Can you go to the next one? Before we jump, can
we talk about this one? For our listeners who
are just listening. Oh, yeah. So the Tender is
a really cool, very rugged -looking ship. Black
paint on the hull. 551 is this exact number we're
looking at. U .S. Coast Guard ship. I don't know
the red, white, and blue stripe. Are you familiar
with what that is? It's pretty cool. It's Coast
Guard emblem. So they all have that same emblem
on the side. Or maybe it's specific for the keeper
class, but the photo that I'm going to show later,
each keeper's boat has its own seal. Okay, we'll
get to it then. And then I wanted to say it looks
like there's a crane. Built into the front of
the ship. And they have a cutout in the middle
of the ship so that when they pull over a buoy
to do some service on it, it doesn't have to
lift all the way over the edge of the ship. It
just goes through the middle. Really cool. Yeah.
So there's our propulsion system. They can rotate
360 degrees so that they can make really sharp
turns. And it has a thruster in the bow, so they're
unmatched in maneuverability. Like these are
the keeper ships with really, really good. Movement.
Go any direction. Movement, yeah. They each carry
a crew of 24, and while they're not classified
as icebreakers, they can travel through nine
inches of ice at three knots. Oh, no. I didn't
look up how many three knots is. Slow. I know,
but fast for going through nine inches? I mean,
yeah. In miles per hour. Also, nine inches of
ice is a significant amount. Oh, three and a
half miles per hour. Yeah, so walking speed.
Okay. Okay. All right. Well, to be honest, faster
walking speed for us Americans. Yeah, that's
like where 3 .5 is like where I start to have
to decide if I want to jog or not. Little steps.
Each one has a length of 175 feet, a displacement
of 845 tons. And this is where I'm like, I don't
know what this means. It says power plant to
Caterpillar 3508 TA diesel engines. Hell yeah.
Ulstein Z drives, 2040 BHP. Brake horsepower.
Brake horsepower? So horsepower is force over
a rate of time. So power generated from, say,
a motor. Brake horsepower is how you, BHP is
how a motor is tested. So a brake is applied
to a shaft and under brake. What is the force
that's applied at a rate of speed is how horsepower
is measured. So those Caterpillar engines, Caterpillar
is well known for making good diesel engines.
Oh, nice. They're huge in heavy on -the -road
equipment and construction, as well as emergency
power diesel generators that are the size of
this basement. Oh, my gosh. Monsters. That's
crazy. Thank you for adding that little bit of
knowledge. You're welcome. They have a speed
max of 12 knots. and a range of 2 ,000 nautical
miles at 10 knots. So they're not the fastest
of ships. They're not the fastest. They're not
trying to get anywhere quickly since they're
just like daily maintenance sort of things. But
the maneuverability, and looking at the hull
of the ship, it's like a V shape, but very, very
subtle. Very flat bottom. So probably for maneuverability.
And stability, because if you're swinging a giant...
buoy over the edge of your ship like you don't
want to tip over it's maybe people who know ships
would laugh at this but 800 and some tons yeah
is a displacement i can't understand how much
weight that is yeah it's like when people say
like a billion of something you're like i don't
yeah i don't know you know a billion a billion
well it's like can you okay i mean i could break
it down yeah Oh, like there was that one person
who did grains of rice to show how much a billion
dollars was compared to like the normal average.
Yeah. Well, the exponential story, right? The,
the chess board, you take a grain of rice and
you double it every piece. Oh yeah. And you run
out of all the grains of rice on earth by the
time you get to the end of the board. That's
crazy. Yeah. It's from a, that's a long story.
Also, one other fun example, won't say the numbers,
but we were talking yesterday about, how expensive
houses are in thousands of dollars increments.
We're like this many hundreds of those thousand
dollar increments. A thousand dollars is like
a lot of money and then multiply it by hundreds.
That's the biggest unit. I think I understand
is a, is a thousand. Yeah. You can put them,
you can put them together. You know, that's two
or 5 ,000 or $15 ,000 car. Yeah. Once we start
to get to the millions and stuff, it's like,
I don't, I don't even know exactly. So anyway,
Keeper Class Bowie Tenders are given the numbers.
We talked about this a long time ago. We talked
about Coast Guard numbering systems. I can't
remember what episode that was. I wish I'd made
a note, but it's WLM 551 through 564. So that
first picture I had must have been the Ida Lewis.
Yep, 551. So that was the first one that they
released, Ida Lewis. I didn't make notes about
all these people because a lot of them are ones
we're going to cover eventually when we cover
specific lighthouses. Of course. So we haven't
covered Ida Lewis, but she's like one of the
big names of Keeper history. You'll see her everywhere.
So very exciting. That one is stationed in Newport,
Rhode Island. And then 552 is the Catherine Walker
in New Jersey. Do you want me to list them all?
How many you got? 14. Yeah. Okay. Abby Burgess.
553 Rockland, Maine. Marcus Hanna, 554 South
Portland, Maine. Let's see. Joshua Appleby, 556
St. Petersburg, Florida. Frank Drew. We talked
about Frank Drew in our last episode, I think.
Okay. I think it was last episode. Maybe the
one before. I can't remember. They're all spread
out, okay? I can't keep track of everything.
557 Portsmouth, Virginia. Anthony. Dang it. Anthony.
Petite. I don't know. 558 in Alaska. Barbara
Mabriti, 559 in Mobile, Alabama. William Tate,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Harry Clyburn, Galveston,
Texas. Maria Bray, Atlantic Beach, Florida. Henry
Blake, Everett, Washington. And George Cobb,
which is 564 in St. San? San Pedro? California.
San Pedro. San Francisco. This is why I should
never list things like this. I should have just
posted it like, you guys can read. Whatever.
San Diego. So what I was saying earlier is that
they all have their own fun seals. Yes, okay.
And so, yeah, go to the next picture. And I just
put six of them on there, so. Ida Lewis. And
I think the seals have something to do with the
keepers, like their history and stuff. At least
four of those names were women's names. Yeah.
That's interesting to me. You started strong
with women, I think, the first three. I probably
did, yeah. Yeah, and then all the guys' names
started coming up, and it's like just butchering
them. Got a bowcat on the lap. Perfect thing
to have going into our episode about... Newport
Harbor Lighthouse which is also called Goat Island
Lighthouse and it's very interesting because
I've done a Goat Island Lighthouse and I was
talking during the episode about how I kept seeing
another lighthouse and being like this isn't
the same right it's like a different lighthouse
and it's not called Goat Island it's just referred
to that like locally but the official name is
Newport Harbor Lighthouse so we're gonna be covering
that one today because it came up as a lighthouse
that does big Christmas stuff. Oh, let's go.
Or at least mentionable Christmas stuff. Jingle
jangle. Jingle jangle is so right. Oh, and Goat
Island Lighthouse, the episode was last November.
Oh my gosh. It just happened to be what we're
talking about today. I thought it was interesting.
Fun. Time is flying. So we have the photo pulled
up of the map. The map. We are in Rhode Island.
Newport Harbor has been... An important site
of commerce since the early 1700s. And that's
for stuff like sugar, molasses, shipbuilding.
What else do I have on here? Whaling and fishing.
So lots, lots of high -paying good stuff going
on through this harbor. Nautical. Nautical. Isn't
everything that we talk about? Anytime I see
a wharf, I get excited. Yeah. We go to the wharf
when we visit my grandparents. Oh, really? In
Ventura, California. To be honest with you, it's
like a mall. Oh. But, you know, like I bought
jeans there. I bought a t -shirt. But I think
of it as cool because it's next to the beach.
Yeah. Anyways, sorry. There's a wharf on the
map here. Probably a real wharf and not a shopping
wharf. I bet you there's a lot of shopping there
today. The entrance to the harbor is marked with
a small island called Goat Island. And they called
it this because they would release their goats
to pasture on the island. Nice. That's about
it. That's where the name comes from? Yeah, that's
about what you would expect. Why is it called
Goat Island? It's probably because there's goats
on it. Yeah, like Hog Island. Yeah, exactly.
Because there were hogs. The Goat Island was
ceded from Newport to the government in 1799
so that Fort Walcott could be constructed on
it. Okay. And this was actually the fifth fort
to be built on this island's history. Proceeded
by Fort Washington, Fort Liberty, Fort George,
and first by Fort Ann in 1702. So we've got a
lot of history here on this teeny island that
you can see on the screen if you're looking at
our YouTube. Yeah. Very exciting. In 1823, Congress
paid $2 ,500 for a lighthouse to be built on
this little island. And so they went with a 20
-foot stone tower and a six -room keeper's dwelling.
And the fixed white light was lit on New Year's
Day, 1824. Can you go to the next picture? Absolutely.
Thank you. Yeah, so this, I have something else
to mention about this, but this was, I think,
an etching of the original lighthouse. Original.
Focus on original lighthouse. Yeah, black and
white could be a photo, but I think you're right.
It's a very domed square, so it's very flat on
the front. I hate to do this to you. Do you know
what's on top of the cupola? No, I have no idea.
It looks like a little, like... Something you
would lift stuff with. Yeah. Like a derrick.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But I don't know. In the
background, you can see our keepers dwelling.
Yeah. Let's stop interrupting you. Unfortunately,
Newport Harbor Light was not located in a good
position to mark a shallow reef that was like
just north of the island. Okay. So like it was
doing a good job in every other way, but they
didn't really. They didn't really foresee this
little reef being an issue particularly. So while
everything else improved, tons of ships started
to run aground on this shallow reef because originally,
you know, they'd give it a really wide berth,
you know, when they're coming in with their ships.
And then if they have a lighthouse there, they
have this false sense of security where they
can like hug the island really tight. And so
they're hitting this reef every time. Sorry.
Huh? It's not funny. It's not funny. Not funny.
They were probably all right. Just a lot of -
If they were okay, it's hilarious. Yeah. A lot
of money damage, I think, is the focus. A lot
of lives lost, but a lot of cash lost. Within
10 years, it was decided that the lighthouse
needed to be moved, so that's pretty quick in
lighthouse terms. Short. They added a breakwater
on the north side of Goat Island, so they're
extending the lighthouse from the island out
towards that shallow reef, so it reduces the
- closeness of people like passing over the top
some more space yep from 1834 to 1842 this was
a very long construction period we're talking
about what is that almost that's eight years
i guess over 67 000 was spent on adding a breakwater
and building a new lighthouse on the end of it
that is a lot in the 1867 grand yeah and that's
not even get about 10 houses back then dang it
so real right now The original lighthouse was
kept lit throughout that construction, so we
still had a lighthouse. But until they transferred
the lighting apparatus to the new 29 -foot octagonal
granite tower, and the inside was lined with
stone and a stone spiral stairway. Cool. Can
you check if I put that photo in here? I did.
Yeah, stone stairway. Isn't that cool? So cool,
yeah. Oh, that's an awesome photo on the left,
too. Isn't that beautiful? Showing kind of the
new keeper's house. Integral tower, it looks
like. So the house actually came later. It used
to just be the tower. So this is a, obviously,
this was finished in 1842. So I don't have a
photo of it exactly. Really cool photo of this
one, though. Yeah, this picture is really nice.
I like how they always have somebody standing
in front. They did for the last lighthouse, too.
Yeah, repping for scale. They always do. The
old tower was dismantled in 1851 and rebuilt
at Prudence Island, where it still operates today.
So that picture that I had originally was probably
on Prudence Island. Okay. That's where it was
etched or whatever. Sure. So yeah, that one's
still lit, and so is ours. In 1864, a keeper's
dwelling was built against the lighthouse on
the 20 -foot granite pier, and the old keeper's
house was demolished and the cellar filled, so
it's no longer... there in any capacity but that's
probably close to when this picture was taken
of our lighthouse 1878 1864 okay not 78 okay
coming from nowhere 1869 a naval torpedo station
was built on um The island to research and develop
torpedoes. And this became like a big torpedo
station for like a long time. 1873, a fog bell
and striking mechanism were added. So that's
the building that's on the left in this photo.
So this is probably that. So you actually, you
were probably right about the date. You said
1878? Yep. This was 1873. So there's a possibility
that that was about when this picture was taken.
Interesting. 1891, we're almost to the 1900s.
A clockwork was added to make the lighthouse
occulting, flashing white for 15 seconds and
dark for five. So now we have a flashing tower.
I wonder which lighthouse was built that made
it no longer a fixed white. There's always something.
I don't know. There's always another lighthouse
that pops up that's like, okay, we need to change
up our lights. I think that's a pretty unique
pattern, though. 15 on, five off. Yeah, like
on for a long time. Yeah, kind of fun. You're
right, that is a fun flashback. Usually they're
so short. Yeah, they're like quick flashes. 1906,
a torpedo factory was built on the island and
became the sole manufacturer for the U .S. Navy.
So that's kind of fun. Torpedo. 1908, sorry,
what year? In 1906. That's so early. Yeah, so
we were already researching and developing torpedoes,
but now there's a factory that's producing them
exclusively. Interesting. In 1921, a 155 -foot
submarine rammed into our breakwater. I'm like,
what are you doing? Is it one of ours? Yes. Keep
your eyes out. Windshield must have got dirty.
And it severely damaged the keeper's dwelling.
So instead of rebuilding, they decided to remove
the house and the fog building and electrify
the lighthouse. So that ended the keeper's positions
at our station. And I have a photo. Mind your
torpedoes. Yeah, keep an eye out for your submarines.
Keep your submarine away from the lighthouse.
You know, that's the downside of submarines is
they can't see lights. Lighthouses. You're so
right. Because they're under the water. You're
so right. Silly. It's like the one thing that
would run into a lighthouse. You're so right.
It's embarrassing. Even a plane wouldn't hit
one. Yeah. I mean, it's unlikely unless there
was an accident. The lighthouse was automated
in 1963, but is still an active guide to navigation
today. So that's fun because I've been giving
you guys lots of lighthouses that are... Retired.
Ruins. A lot more than retired. Retired from
life. Well, this one's still kicking. That's
good. Yeah. Still flashing. What's the pattern
today? Do you know? Oh, that's a good question.
I want to say yeah, but that's because I don't
have any other information. I like it. Could
be different. Usually I check the USLHS light
list, so I'm surprised I didn't this time. You
know, things are just a little crazy. If you
can't hear it, we are ragged. It's going so good.
Am I doing a bad job? No. Oh. Just like my...
Your eyes are sunken. I am sporadic. I'm sorry.
We're going to look so tired on our wedding day.
They're going to be like, what happened? I don't
know. I don't know. Didn't you guys get married
when you were 30? What is... Why do you look
so old? Why does she have gray hair? Why do his
eyes look like Kermit the Frog? It's fine. We're
thriving. In the 70s, the area between the island
and the lighthouse was filled. Too much excitement
made me choke. Filled in. I just thought it was
fun and then it got ruined. I'm having fun. And
a hotel was built on this new land. Okay, I'm
kind of. We'll come back to that interesting.
Did the submarine hit it? No. Maybe it was a
blimp. He's losing it. The old sky submarine.
Coast Guard completely renovated the lighthouse
in 1989, which is early for a renovation. It
is. Normally we see. That in the 90s, like late
90s and early 2000s. Yeah, it must have been
one of the early ones in that big movement. Yeah,
they must have liked it and focused on it. And
was added to the National Register of Historic
Places, like right before that. They leased the
light to the American Lighthouse Foundation,
which started a chapter called the Friends of
Newport Harbor Light to maintain it. Let's go.
So let's go. In 2005, the light was changed to
fixed green. If you want to click. Oh yeah, clicking.
And that's a beautiful photo. It's not on, but
you can tell that it's green from the way it
is. Yeah. From the way that it is, the color
that you can see. Really cool tree. Isn't it
pretty? Yeah. And you can see that they added
the land. It's no longer a breakwater. Kind of
cool. The year after that, a restoration was
done of the tower painting, repointing, and repairing
railings. Repointing? Yeah. That's when they
put new mortar, I think, between the bricks.
Yeah. We mentioned that years ago. Because I
was like repointing. That's probably supposed
to say repainting, but nope. Cool. And apparently
in 2018, the American Lighthouse Foundation did
not renew their lease with the lighthouse. So
it's unclear. Why? I haven't been able to find
out who is maintaining it because it still looks
good. And so like somebody's got to be. I mean,
it could be the city. Oh, yeah. If it's, you
know, it could be the friends of, you know, shout
out. friends of xyz and lighthouses they're all
over the place yeah like if a new chapter or
a new yeah group came up but i'm curious everywhere
i look it still says the american lighthouse
foundation maintains it and so i wonder if in
2008 they didn't renew the lease and then maybe
the next year sorry what did i say eight 2008
oh yeah 2018 18 okay i was gonna say too because
that that's 20 years yeah but 18 is a couple
But I wonder if they took back over again like
in a later year or something. Yeah, didn't renew
in 18. But another interesting piece of information
is that the Newport Harbor Island Resort, I think
it's a Marriott or maybe a Marriott. Hyatt Marriott?
I don't know why that's funny to me. What? I
think of a resort, I don't think of the big names.
Oh, yeah. But it's still, it's called the Newport
Harbor Island Resort. But it's under, yeah, under
the big name. but they refer to it as our lighthouse
when talking about their annual Christmas lighting.
Maybe they own it. So that's what I was thinking.
I was like, maybe the land, maybe there, but
it's still an active guide to navigation. So
like what a hotel lease, a lighthouse. Well,
hear me out. Okay. Hog Island, Paradise Island
of Nassau, Bahamas. We know Toby Smith, who is
the owner of the lighthouse. Unfortunately, it's
doing. Very poorly right now. Oh, yeah, we lost
the top. Yeah, it's in need of repair. Our lantern
room plummeted to the ground in high winds. Everybody,
give some love to our Paradise Island Lighthouse
because it needs some eyes on it. It needs some
eyes on it and some cash. Okay, so continue.
And you should go back and listen. We interviewed
Toby Smith. He was really fun to talk to. Yeah.
He was in a pretty tough time. We need to check
in with him again. But I follow him on Facebook,
so I keep up. technically that's another i would
say active guide to navigation it was on and
cruise ships are coming in and out of that port
every single day yeah in nassau and um i forget
which cruise line royal caribbean atlantic was
was in a a legal battle that was discussed on
our show also with toby regarding who owns that
property yeah who has the lease rather for that
property and so Or where the boundary is and
whatnot. Yeah. So maybe in this case also, somebody
may have lease or ownership of the actual property
of the lighthouse, but it's accessed through
the property of this resort. Maybe the resort
owns the whole spit. Yeah. Or leases the whole
spit. Who knows? Maybe. I don't know. All that
is to say, active guided navigation and also
in question of who owns it. Who's maintaining
it. Because the actual lighthouse itself has
to be maintained by somebody else. Otherwise
it would. Coast Guard is only concerned with
having the light on. And so if there's no one
to maintain the lighthouse, they just put a light
on like a little stick or a skeleton tower or
something. I mean, I get how it happens, of course.
We don't have that much money to throw around.
Anyway, annual Christmas tree lining. Annual.
Very exciting. And that's what I wanted to focus
to be on. Let's go. Can you go to the next picture?
Oh, that's pretty. Isn't that beautiful? Okay,
so we have lights going up and down each of the
octagonal, what do you call them? Chrismas. Edges
of the lighthouse. We have a wreath in the middle.
We have garland all the way around the top along
with more lights. That's beautiful. It kind of
adds to more festive magic for the light itself
to be green. So very beautiful. And that is thrown
by the resort. So November 29th this year. So
it's passed at this point, unfortunately. But
you can go next year. From 5 p .m. to 10 p .m.
they had their event where the lighthouse was
decorated with garland, a wreath, and Christmas
lights. And the resort had carolers, warm drinks,
which they said some spiked options, which would
be important to me because that's how it's fun.
Live music, treats, and a hot chocolate bar.
And it was all free to attend. So you could just
come out to the island and check it out. That's
awesome. You know, I'm so interested in lighthouse
tourism, right? Maybe there's a better word or
phrase. But going to do things and making lighthouses
a part of what you're doing. Whether it's in
your town or a different country. I mean, I'm
fascinated. Do you know, could you remind me
the name of this? Do you have any more information
on the resort here? Oh, yeah. Newport Harbor.
I lost it. Island Resort. Okay. And if you look
it up, they have a really great website. And
I think it's slightly bougie. I'll check it out.
Okay. That's fun. I don't know. There's all sorts,
like, how cool is that? Yeah. Especially if you
weren't expecting it. You happen to be there
November 29th and like, hey, we have a, you know.
We have a lighthouse lighting. It's like, what?
How cool is that? There was one time, side story.
One time we took a flight. We weren't supposed
to be on the flight. We had a different flight
and we missed it. And so we're flying from Denver.
No, no. We were in Vancouver, Canada. We were
flying to Whitehorse, Canada. Okay. So we were
going backpacking. It was this awesome adventure.
Oh, yeah. 2015. And before we got on, it's a
long story. Before we got on the flight. um,
there was like this little thing that got set
up this table and these people came and there
was a cake, a big chocolate cake, like four or
five tiers. It was huge. And champagne was being
poured. And we were like, Oh my God, someone's
arriving. Like a VIP is coming or, you know,
what's happening. It's this small, uh, small
part of the airport, not a small airport. And
then, you know, we're sitting 20 feet away. This,
uh, uh, a lady event host comes over and says,
if you'd like, you can go ahead and get chocolate
cake now. And we're like, Oh, we're and she's
like, no, no, no. This is the first flight. This
is the inaugural flight for this or this airline
flying this route. So we just accidentally and
it was not cheap. Yeah, we got we got like there
was a fruit tray. It was a whole thing. It was
real informal, but they did. Someone stood up
there and said something. And the captain, the
pilot of the plane shook somebody's hand. Yeah.
And it was a not a long flight. But we we talk
about. My brother and I still, how fantastic
this flight was because they served chocolate
cake again on the flight. Specifically because
of the chocolate cake. So weird side story, but
put yourself in the tourism lighthouse world.
Get out there. Fun things are going to happen.
It's like chocolate cake on a flight. So somebody,
I bet you somebody had that experience. That
day is why I say all that. It's just something
totally random. Maybe they didn't even know the
lighthouse was there. Exactly. Even just staying
at the resort and then being like, is that a
lighthouse out there? Like, whoa. Something so
cool. And the resort's right next to it. So you
see the flashing, the green light. Ooh, do they
have lighthouse view rooms? You should stay there.
I bet you they do. If they wanted to reach out
to us. Yeah. Give us a room and we'll cover more.
You know? Yeah, we already did this for free.
Dang it. Yep. That's what our podcast is. But
anyway, the Lighthouse Lighting is only part
of the Newport festivities for the Christmas
season as they celebrate the 55th annual Christmas
in Newport. So I have another picture pulled
up. Newport is one of those places that goes
absolutely crazy for Christmas time. This is
just the wharf that we saw on the thing. Just
the wharf. You don't say just the wharf. No,
I'm just saying like, look at how many Christmas
trees. There's a lot. How many are we on? One,
two, three. There's a bunch of small ones. You
got to count them all. A minimum of 15. And there
are Christmas trees inside as well. Oh, shoot.
Yeah, you kind of can't. Christmas. Can't really
count them all. So we've got door decorating
contests. We've got holiday markets, lantern
lit walking tours, which would be awesome. Light
shows, mansion Christmas displays. I don't know
what's going on in Newport, but apparently there's
a lot of mansions and they do competitive Christmas
displays where you can go inside and see their
ballroom decorated for Christmas. See, that's
where we need to be looking at houses. I will
say, yeah. Wait, let me finish my list. Lots
of workshops displays and anything you can think
of in Newport for Christmas time. They've got
it. Newport is a very heavy Christmas themed
place around this time of year. So it's like
when we covered Edgerton. Yeah. Or is it Edgar
Town? Edgar Town. I can't remember. I know. But
they went crazy for Christmas too. So it's like
a small coastal town thing. Yeah. They go crazy.
I was going to say Christmas is, I mean, we're
getting married. soon yeah we are and so everything's
christmas right yeah and we're doing a mini honeymoon
right after christmas themed all these things
christmas is alive and well so many things people
are complaining about that we've lost or that
have changed or they're not like they used to
be or now it's all corporate uh yeah people are
honestly you're right but christmas is like one
of the last things i think people are keeping
alive you know they said uh they being the internet
said something about why you know we look back
at christmas our generation and we think man
it used to be what happened you know like it
was the warm light and all these events and the
also the pumpkin patches and also the valentine's
day at school and also well it's because our
parents and the adults that were around made
that real for us yeah so For the love of life,
please, let's keep Christmas alive. Yeah, because.
For those who enjoy Christmas. That's true. Is
that like when you were a kid, the magic was
being made for you. And now that you're an adult,
you have to make the magic yourself. Well, it
doesn't mean you got to buy more presents. It
doesn't mean you got to pay to get into more
places. That's why we go to the Overland Park
Mayor's Christmas tree lighting every year. We
do. Because it's just like the best way free
to kick off the holiday season. Like you just
go and they. make a big deal on stage about flipping
the switch for the Christmas tree. Yeah, it's
fun. Yeah, you just have a drink and take pictures
and have dinner. It's nice. Absolutely. That's
what Newport Harbor is doing. It's keeping it
alive, making the magic themselves. So yeah,
that's the end of my episode. Well, thank you
and Merry Christmas. You're welcome. Merry Christmas,
everybody. We're going to see you after the Christmas
season. We're going to be Mr. and Mrs. Bailey
at that point. That's crazy. That's crazy. Our
podcast has gone through almost all the seasons
of our relationship, and now we will be one,
one flesh, as they say. Yes. And, you know, speaking
about kind of recording our relationship and
what we've done together, the couple of different
studios we've had, all the adventures, people
we've met, thank you all for being a part of
it. We, even if this goes offline someday, You
know, Emily and I are not doing this anymore.
YouTube is gone. Whatever. Podcasts are dead.
We will always have this. Yeah. We're going to
have these and you all were a part of it. So
thank you for being here. It's really special.
That's so sweet. That's like, that's a good new
year send off because we're not up here for New
Year's either. So everyone enjoy the rest of
your 2025 and we'll see you guys next time in
2026. Lighthouse. Lighthouse. Lowdown.